Assessment of Polyethylene Glycol-Coated Gold Nanoparticle Toxicity and Inflammation In Vivo Using NF-κB Reporter Mice.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) improves AuNP distribution via blood circulation. The use of PEG-coated AuNPs was shown to result in acute injuries to the liver, kidney, and spleen, but long-term toxicity has not been well studied. In this study, we investigated reporter induction for up to 90 days in NF-κB transgenic reporter mice following intravenous injection of PEG-coated AuNPs. The results of different doses (1 and 4 µg AuNPs per gram of body weight), particle sizes (13 nm and 30 nm), and PEG surfaces (methoxyl- or carboxymethyl-PEG 5 kDa) were compared. The data showed up to 7-fold NF-κB reporter induction in mouse liver from 3 h to 7 d post PEG-AuNP injection compared to saline-injected control mice, and gradual reduction to a level similar to control by 90 days. Agglomerates of PEG-AuNPs were detected in liver Kupffer cells, but neither gross pathological abnormality in liver sections nor increased activity of liver enzymes were found at 90 days. Injection of PEG-AuNPs led to an increase in collagen in liver sections and elevated total serum cholesterol, although still within the normal range, suggesting that inflammation resulted in mild fibrosis and affected hepatic function. Administrating PEG-AuNPs inevitably results in nanoparticles entrapped in the liver; thus, further investigation is required to fully assess the long-term impacts by PEG-AuNPs on liver health.

The prevalence, antimicrobial resistance and PFGE profiles of Laribacter hongkongensis in retail freshwater fish and edible frogs of southern China.

Laribacter hongkongensis is a novel emerging pathogen associated with human gastroenteritis. We aimed to investigate the prevalence, antimicrobial resistance and genotypic relationship of 199 L. hongkongensis isolates from 690 intestinal samples of fish and frogs. These samples were collected from retail markets in the city of Guangzhou in southern China from October 2008 to September 2009. L. hongkongensis was detected in from 80 (16.3%) out of 490 freshwater fish, and this number included 76 (32.3%) out of 235 grass carp and 4 (14.8%) out of 27 bighead carp. A higher isolation rate of 59.5% (119 out of 200) was observed in edible frogs. The isolation rate was highest in the spring in comparison with other seasons. Notably, 63.8% of the isolates were resistant to at least one class of antimicrobial agents. Analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) revealed that the isolates could be grouped into three clusters. Isolates from fish intestines were grouped into two clusters: cluster I and II. Isolates of frog-origin and several fish-origin isolates were grouped into cluster III. Two patient-derived strains could be classed into cluster III. Extensive genetic heterogeneity among the isolates was observed. The results indicate that L. hongkongensis isolates exhibits host tropism, extensive resistance to widely used antimicrobials and diverse biological evolution in an aquatic environment. The frog is more likely than the freshwater fish to be the potential source for human infection with L. hongkongensis.

An outbreak of angiostrongyliasis in Guanging, People's Republic of China: migrants vulnerable to an emerging disease.

Angiostrongyliasis has been frequently reported from the People's Republic of China during the last decade. An outbreak of angiostrongyliasis among migrant laborers in Guangning, Guangdong Province is described here. A questionnaire was developed to collect epidemiological and clinical information about 17 migrant laborers from the Bai ethnic group in Dali, Yunnan Province. Serum samples were collected and tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Rats and mollusks from the same area where patients had collected Pomacea canaliculata were examined for presence of Angiostrongylus cantonensis. All 17 Bai migrant laborers consumed P. canaliculata and six had meningitis 3-19 days after consumption of P. canaliculata. Headache, myalgia and fatigue were the most common symptoms. Blood samples from 5 patients were positive for antibodies to A. cantonensis. The places where the migrant laborers collected P. canaliculata were identified as endemic areas for A. cantonensis. This outbreak highlights the vulnerability of migrants to angiostrongyliasis.

Artificial Intelligence to Detect Meibomian Gland Dysfunction From in-vivo Laser Confocal Microscopy.

Background: In recent years, deep learning has been widely used in a variety of ophthalmic diseases. As a common ophthalmic disease, meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) has a unique phenotype in in-vivo laser confocal microscope imaging (VLCMI). The purpose of our study was to investigate a deep learning algorithm to differentiate and classify obstructive MGD (OMGD), atrophic MGD (AMGD) and normal groups. Methods: In this study, a multi-layer deep convolution neural network (CNN) was trained using VLCMI from OMGD, AMGD and healthy subjects as verified by medical experts. The automatic differential diagnosis of OMGD, AMGD and healthy people was tested by comparing its image-based identification of each group with the medical expert diagnosis. The CNN was trained and validated with 4,985 and 1,663 VLCMI images, respectively. By using established enhancement techniques, 1,663 untrained VLCMI images were tested. Results: In this study, we included 2,766 healthy control VLCMIs, 2,744 from OMGD and 2,801 from AMGD. Of the three models, differential diagnostic accuracy of the DenseNet169 CNN was highest at over 97%. The sensitivity and specificity of the DenseNet169 model for OMGD were 88.8 and 95.4%, respectively; and for AMGD 89.4 and 98.4%, respectively. Conclusion: This study described a deep learning algorithm to automatically check and classify VLCMI images of MGD. By optimizing the algorithm, the classifier model displayed excellent accuracy. With further development, this model may become an effective tool for the differential diagnosis of MGD.

Potential Role and Clinical Value of PPP2CA in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is associated with many cancers. This study aimed to clarify whether PPP2CA, which encodes the alpha isoform of the catalytic subunit of PP2A, plays a role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to identify the potential underlying molecular pathways. METHODS: Based on bioinformatics, public databases and our in-house RNA-Seq database, we analyzed the clinical value and molecular mechanism of PPP2CA in HCC. RESULTS: Data were analyzed from 2,545 patients with HCC and 1,993 controls without HCC indexed in The Cancer Genome Atlas database, the Gene Expression Omnibus database and our in-house RNA-Seq database. PPP2CA expression was significantly higher in HCC tissue than in non-cancerous tissues (standardized mean difference: 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.50-0.89). PPP2CA expression was able to differentiate HCC from non-HCC, with an area under the summary receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.75-0.83). Immunohistochemistry of tissue sections confirmed that PPP2CA protein was up-regulated in HCC tissues. High PPP2CA expression in HCC patients was associated with shorter overall, progression-free and disease-free survival. Potential molecular pathways through which PPP2CA may be involved in HCC were determined using miRWalk 2.0 as well as analysis of Gene Ontology categories, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways, and protein-protein interaction networks. CONCLUSIONS: PPP2CA is up-regulated in HCC and higher expression correlates with worse prognosis. PPP2CA shows potential as a diagnostic marker for HCC. Future studies should examine whether PPP2CA contributes to HCC through the candidate microRNAs, pathways and hub genes identified in this study.

The Expression and Potential Role of Tubulin Alpha 1b in Wilms' Tumor.

We explored the difference in expression of tubulin alpha 1b (TUBA1B) between Wilms' tumor (WT) and normal tissues (NT) from in-house patients and databases, to determine TUBA1B expression in WT and the predictive pathways of coexpressed genes. In-house RNA-sequencing data were performed with WT and NT from three patients from our institute. Other four RNA-sequencing and microarray data were also downloaded from multiple public databases. The TUBA1B expression between WT and NT was analyzed by Student's t-test and meta-analysis. The correlation between the expression of TUBA1B and other genes in each study was analyzed. Genes with p < 0.05 and r > 0.5 were considered as the coexpressing genes of TUBA1B. Overlapping the coexpressed genes of the five studies, including three in-house patients (3 WT vs. 3 NT), GTEx-TARGET (126 WT vs. 51 NT), GSE2172 (18 WT vs. 3 NT), GSE11024 (27 WT vs. 12 NT), and GSE73209 (32 WT vs. 6 NT), were performed with limma and VennDiagram packages in R software. The website of WEB-based GEne SeT AnaLysis toolkit were used to analyze the gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) functional annotations for the overlapped genes. The results showed that the relative expression of TUBA1B in WT tissues from in-house three patients was 280.0086, 141.7589, and 303.8292 and that in NT was 16.5836, 104.8141, and 12.79 (3 WT vs. 3 NT, p = 0.0285, ROC = 100%, SMD = 2.74). Student's t-test and meta-analysis in all studies revealed that the expression of TUBA1B was upregulated in WT tissues compared to that in NT (p < 0.05, SMD = 2.89, sROC = 0.98). Finally, the research identified the expression of TUBA1B in WT tissues was significantly upregulated than that in NT. The coexpressed genes of TUBA1B were enriched in the pathway of DNA replication, mismatch repair, cell cycle, pathogenic Escherichia coli infection, and spliceosome.

Impact of Influenza on Outpatient Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths by Using a Time Series Poisson Generalized Additive Model.

BACKGROUND: The disease burden associated with influenza in developing tropical and subtropical countries is poorly understood owing to the lack of a comprehensive disease surveillance system and information-exchange mechanisms. The impact of influenza on outpatient visits, hospital admissions, and deaths has not been fully demonstrated to date in south China. METHODS: A time series Poisson generalized additive model was used to quantitatively assess influenza-like illness (ILI) and influenza disease burden by using influenza surveillance data in Zhuhai City from 2007 to 2009, combined with the outpatient, inpatient, and respiratory disease mortality data of the same period. RESULTS: The influenza activity in Zhuhai City demonstrated a typical subtropical seasonal pattern; however, each influenza virus subtype showed a specific transmission variation. The weekly ILI case number and virus isolation rate had a very close positive correlation (r = 0.774, P < 0.0001). The impact of ILI and influenza on weekly outpatient visits was statistically significant (P < 0.05). We determined that 10.7% of outpatient visits were associated with ILI and 1.88% were associated with influenza. ILI also had a significant influence on the hospitalization rates (P < 0.05), but mainly in populations <25 years of age. No statistically significant effect of influenza on hospital admissions was found (P > 0.05). The impact of ILI on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was most significant (P < 0.05), with 33.1% of COPD-related deaths being attributable to ILI. The impact of influenza on the mortality rate requires further evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: ILI is a feasible indicator of influenza activity. Both ILI and influenza have a large impact on outpatient visits. Although ILI affects the number of hospital admissions and deaths, we found no consistent influence of influenza, which requires further assessment.

Anti-Human H1N1pdm09 and swine H1N1 Virus Antibodies among Swine Workers in Guangdong Province, China.

To assess the potential transmission for zoonotic influenza, sero-antibodies against two kinds of influenza viruses--classical swine H1N1 and human H1N1pdm09 virus were detected in persons whose profession involved contact with swine in Guangdong province, China. Compared to the non-exposed control group, a significantly higher proportion of subjects with occupational contact to pigs exhibited positive seroreaction against the classical H1N1 SIV. Participants aged 26-50 years were at high risk of classic swine H1N1 infections. Seropositive rate to 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus among swine workers was similar with controls. The major impact of age was apparent for younger populations. Our present study has documented evidence for swine influenza virus infection among persons with occupational swine exposures. The differences of seroreactivity for the two tested influenza subtypes emphasize the necessity of regular surveillance both in pigs and human.

Clinical, virological and immunological features from patients infected with re-emergent avian-origin human H7N9 influenza disease of varying severity in Guangdong province.

BACKGROUND: The second wave of avian influenza H7N9 virus outbreak in humans spread to the Guangdong province of China by August of 2013 and this virus is now endemic in poultry in this region. METHODS: Five patients with H7N9 virus infection admitted to our hospital during August 2013 to February 2014 were intensively investigated. Viral load in the respiratory tract was determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) and cytokine levels were measured by bead-based flow cytometery. RESULTS: Four patients survived and one died. Viral load in different clinical specimens was correlated with cytokine levels in plasma and broncho-alveolar fluid (BALF), therapeutic modalities used and clinical outcome. Intravenous zanamivir appeared to be better than peramivir as salvage therapy in patients who failed to respond to oseltamivir. Higher and more prolonged viral load was found in the sputum or endotracheal aspirates compared to throat swabs. Upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines IP-10, MCP-1, MIG, MIP-1α/ß, IL-1ß and IL-8 was found in the plasma and BALF samples. The levels of cytokines in the plasma and viral load were correlated with disease severity. Reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 1(HSV-1) was found in three out of five patients (60%). CONCLUSION: Expectorated sputum or endotracheal aspirate specimens are preferable to throat swabs for detecting and monitoring H7N9 virus. Severity of the disease was correlated to the viral load in the respiratory tract as well as the extents of cytokinemia. Reactivation of HSV-1 may contribute to clinical outcome.

[An investigation on nosocomial infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome in health-care workers at 13 key hospitals in Guangdong Province].

OBJECTIVE: To analysis the risk factors influencing nosocomial infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in health-care workers and to evaluate effectiveness of its control and preventive measures in 13 key hospitals caring for SARS patients. METHODS: Number of SARS patients, clinical conditions of them, its attack rate in health-care workers, and characteristics of hospitals, including their environment, isolating measures, etc. were investigated at the 13 hospital in Guangzhou to analyze the risk factors influencing nosocomial infection of SARS and its attack rates in health-care workers before and after implementation of preventive measures and to evaluate their effectiveness. RESULTS: Totally, 841 patients with SARS were treated at the 13 hospitals in Guangzhou and 285 health-care workers caring for them infected nosocomially. Attack rate in health-care workers was higher at general hospitals, hospital accepting more cases in critical conditions and hospitals with poor precautious measures, and lower in hospitals with isolated wards or areas, or department of infection, specially caring for SARS patients, and those with effective intervention measures to prevent secondary infection. CONCLUSION: Nosocomial infection of SARS in health-care workers was affected by clinical condition of SARS patients, characteristics and environment of hospitals and their personal protective measures adopted.

[Severe acute respiratory syndrome in Guangdong Province of China: epidemiology and control measures].

OBJECTIVE: To explore epidemiological features and risk factors of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Guangdong Province of China, so as to work out effective strategies for its better control. METHODS: A total of 1 511 clinically confirmed SARS cases in Guangdong Province of China from November 16, 2002 to Jun 15, 2003 were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The first SARS case was identified in Foshan municipality on November 16, 2002, followed by 1 511 clinically confirmed cases (including 58 deaths) up to May 15, 2003. Of all cases, health care workers and community family cluster cases accounted for 19.38% and 12.04%. 65.86% SARS patients aged 20 - 49 years, and increased incidence was positively related to their ages. 95.97% cases lived in the following five cities around Pearl Delta Area: Foshan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, and Jiangmen. Eleven early reported cases in the communities took animal-related positions. Face-to-face contacts with infected droplets were the main transmission route. An epidemic peak occurred during January 28 to February 26, and those cases accounted for 50.69% of total. Incidence, mortality, and case fatality of SARS were 1.77/100,000, 0.07/100,000, and 3.84% respectively. The mean incubation period was 4.5 days. CONCLUSION: The most effective way to control SARS is to break the chain of transmission from infected to healthy persons-early identification, prompt and effective isolation, and vigorous close contact tracing. Hospital infections among health care workers is critical. Several observations support the hypothesis of an animal origin for the disease.

The prevalence and endemic nature of dengue infections in Guangdong, South China: an epidemiological, serological, and etiological study from 2005-2011.

OBJECTIVES: Frequent outbreaks of dengue are considered to be associated with an increased risk for endemicity of the disease. The occurrence of a large number of indigenous dengue cases in consecutive years indicates the possibility of a changing dengue epidemic pattern in Guangdong, China. METHODS: To have a clear understanding of the current dengue epidemic, a retrospective study of epidemiological profile, serological response, and virological features of dengue infections from 2005-2011 was conducted. Case data were collected from the National Notifiable Infectious Diseases Reporting Network. Serum samples were collected and prepared for serological verification and etiological confirmation. Incidence, temporal and spatial distribution, and the clinical manifestation of dengue infections were analyzed. Pearson's Chi-Square test was used to compare incidences between different age groups. A seroprevalence survey was implemented in local healthy inhabitants to obtain the overall positive rate for the specific immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibody against dengue virus (DENV). RESULTS: The overall annual incidence rate was 1.87/100000. A significant difference was found in age-specific incidence (Pearson's Chi-Square value 498.008, P<0.001). Children under 5 years of age had the lowest incidence of 0.28/100000. The vast majority of cases presented with a mild manifestation typical to dengue fever. The overall seroprevalence of dengue IgG antibody in local populations was 2.43% (range 0.28%-5.42%). DENV-1 was the predominant serotype in circulation through the years, while all 4 serotypes were identified in indigenous patients from different outbreak localities since 2009. CONCLUSIONS: A gradual change in the epidemic pattern of dengue infection has been observed in recent years in Guangdong. With the endemic nature of dengue infections, the transition from a monotypic to a multitypic circulation of dengue virus in the last several years will have an important bearing on the prevention and control of dengue in the province and in the neighboring districts.

Novel phage display-derived H5N1-specific scFvs with potential use in rapid avian flu diagnosis.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza A (HPAI) viruses of the H5N1 subtype infect poultry and have also been spreading to humans. Although new antiviral drugs and vaccinations can be effective, rapid detection would be more efficient to control the outbreak of infections. In this study, a phage-display library was applied to select antibody fragments for HPAI strain A/Hubei/1/2010. As a result, three clones were selected and sequenced. A hemagglutinin inhibition assay of the three scFvs revealed that none exhibited hemagglutination inhibition activity towards the H5N1 virus, yet they showed a higher binding affinity for several HPAI H5N1 strains compared with other influenza viruses. An ELISA confirmed that the HA protein was the target of the scFvs, and the results of a protein structure simulation showed that all the selected scFvs bound to the HA2 subunit of the HA protein. In conclusion, the three selected scFVs could be useful for developing a specific detection tool for the surveillance of HPAI epidemic strains.

Epidemiological and viral genome characteristics of the first human H7N9 influenza infection in Guangdong Province, China.

BACKGROUND: The first H7N9 human case in south of China was confirmed in Guangdong Province on August 2013, outside of the typical influenza season. For investigating the H7N9 virus source and transmission in the local community, we analyze the epidemiology and genome features of the virus isolated from the first human infection detected in Guangdong Province. METHODS: The data including medical records, exposure history and time line of events for the H7N9 patient and close contacts was collected. Variation and genetic signatures of H7N9 virus in Guangdong was analyzed using ClustalW algorithm and comparison with mutations associated with changes in biological characteristics of the virus. RESULTS: The female patient had a history of poultry exposure, and she was transferred from a local primary hospital to an intensive care unit (ICU) upon deterioration. No additional cases were reported. Similar to previous infections with avian influenza A (H7N9) virus, the patient presented with both upper and lower respiratory tract symptoms. Respiratory failure progressed quickly, and the patient recovered 4 weeks after the onset of symptoms. Genome analysis of the virus indicated that the predicted antigen city and internal genes of the virus are similar to previously reported H7N9 viruses. The isolated virus is susceptible to neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors but resistant to adamantine. Although this virus contains some unique mutations that were only detected in avian or environment-origin avian influenza A (H7N9) viruses, it is still quite similar to other human H7N9 isolates. CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiological features and genome of the first H7N9 virus in Guangdong Province are similar to other human H7N9 infections. This virus may have existed in the environment and live poultry locally; therefore, it is important to be alert of the risk of H7N9 re-emergence in China, including emergence outside the typical influenza season.

Development of an ERIC sequence typing scheme for Laribacter hongkongensis, an emerging pathogen associated with community-acquired gastroenteritis and travellers' diarrhoea.

Laribacter hongkongensis is a potential emerging pathogen, associated with community-acquired diarrhoea. For epidemiological purposes, different molecular typing methods, such as pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multi-locus sequence typing, have been developed for this pathogen. However, these methods require specialized equipment and costly reagents. More importantly, they are labour-intensive and time-consuming, which is not really suitable for foodborne disease outbreak investigations. In this study, we developed a rapid and reliable method using 22-mer primers specific for the enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence (ERIC). PFGE was used for comparison, to evaluate this method. A total of 81 isolates of L. hongkongensis were examined: 79 isolates recovered from food of diverse origins and two strains derived from patients with L. hongkongensis-associated infection. Typing patterns and clustering analysis indicated that the 81 L. hongkongensis isolates were grouped into 21 and 13 genotypes by ERIC-PCR and PFGE, respectively. ERIC-PCR was found as reproducible as PFGE. A high percentage (70.4%) of isolates yielded distinguishable ERIC-PCR patterns, which were concordant with the results from PFGE. These results suggest that ERIC-PCR is valuable for use in the epidemiological investigation of L. hongkongensis.

[Current situation on the China infectious disease automated-alert and response system in Guangdong Province, China].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the current situation on China Infectious Disease Automated-alert and Response System (CIDARS) in Guangdong province, China. METHODS: Early-warning signals and response time were analyzed by using three approaches of CIDARS. Positive rates of early-warning signals and error early-warning rates prior and after the adjustment,were compared. RESULTS: Totally, 114 585 early-warning signals appeared, with an average response time of 1.35 hours from April 21, 2008 to December 31, 2012. There were 12,394 early-warning signals in terms of fixed threshold method with a positive rate of 7.96%. 85 727 early-warning signals appeared under the mobile percentile method with a positive rate of 0.85%. There were 16,464 early-warning signals by using accumulation and control chart methods,with a positive rate of 1.82%. Results showed there was a positive correlation between the number of reported cases and the number of early-warning signals (r = 0.924, P < 0.01). The overall positive rate in Guangdong province increased from 1.48% to 2.14%, after the adjustment done by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2010. The error early-warning rates regarding eight infectious diseases including hepatitis A, bacillary or amebic dysentery, both typhoid and paratyphoid fevers had reduced. CONCLUSION: The early-warning signal response appeared timely in CIDARS with good operation. However, despite the improvement on the efficacy of CIDARS, some functions and parameters of the systems still need to be adjusted.

[Epidemiological and etiological characteristics of diarrheal disease among children under 5 years of age in Guangdong province, in 2012].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the epidemiological and etiological characteristics of diarrheal disease among children under 5 years of age in Guangdong province, in 2012. METHODS: 64 hospitals in 21 cities were chosen as the diarrheal syndromic surveillance sites, of which 14 hospitals were selected to carry out etiological surveillance among children under 5 years of age, including isolation and culture of both Vibrio cholera and Shigella as well as nucleic acid detection of rotavirus and norovirus by PCR. Descriptive method was used to analyze data from syndromic and etiological surveillance programs on diarrheal, from 1932 parents of the children. RESULTS: In 2012, the outpatient attendance rate on diarrheal among children under 5 years was 0.8%. The proportion of diarrheal in children under 5-year-olds was 63.5%, among the total number of diarrheal outpatients at the outpatient clinics under surveillance program. The morbidity of infectious diarrhea was 1454.5/10 million in children under 5 years of age. A total number of 1932 specimens were collected from children under 5 years of age, in the outpatient department. Among these specimens,Vibrio cholera appeared all negative but one was Shigella positive and proved to be Sh. sonnei. The positive rates of rotavirus and norovirus were 14.1% (273/1932)and 16.9% (326/1932). Both rotavirus and norovirus were found in 24 specimens, with a positive rate as 1.2% . 112 specimens were successfully gene sequenced for rotavirus, of which 33.9% as G1[P8] genotype, 25.9% as G9[P8], 12.5% as G2[P4] and 9.8% as G3[P8] respectively. 90 specimens were successfully gene-sequenced for norovirus, of which 76.7% as G II.4 genotype. Genetic subtypes of G II. 4/2006b, accounted for 50.0% and could be detected around the year except for June and December. New G II. 4/Sydney Strain_2012 was first detected in August and became the predominant in December. In addition, 5 specimens belonged to G I genotype with other 16 subtypes of G II. CONCLUSION: Results from our study proved that children under 5 years of age belonged to high-risk group for diarrheal disease in Guangdong province. Rotavirus and norovirus were both diverse in terms of genome.

Epidemiologic and economic burden of influenza in the outpatient setting: a prospective study in a subtropical area of China.

OBJECTIVES: To understand the incidence of outpatient influenza cases in a subtropical area of China and the associated economic burden on patients' families. METHODS: A hospital-based prospective study was conducted in Zhuhai City during 2008-2009. All outpatient influenza-like illness (ILI) cases were identified in 28 sentinel hospitals. A representative sample of throat swabs from ILI cases were collected for virus isolation using Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. The incidence of outpatient influenza cases in Zhuhai was estimated on the basis of the number of influenza patients detected by the sentinel sites. A telephone survey on the direct costs associated with illness was conducted as a follow-up. RESULTS: The incidence of influenza was estimated to be 4.1 per 1,000 population in 2008 and 19.2 per 1,000 population in 2009. Children aged <5 years were the most-affected population, suffering from influenza at the highest rates (34.3 per 1,000 population in 2008 and 95.3 per 1,000 population in 2009). A high incidence of 29.2-40.9 per 1000 population was also seen in young people aged 5-24 years in 2009. ILI activity and influenza virus isolations adopted a consistent seasonal pattern, with a summer peak in July 2008 and the longest epidemic period lasting from July-December 2009. The medical costs per episode of influenza among urban patients were higher than those for rural patients. A total of $1.1 million in direct economic losses were estimated to be associated with outpatient influenza during 2008-2009 in Zhuhai community. CONCLUSIONS: Influenza attacks children aged <5 years in greater proportions than children in other age groups. Seasonal influenza 2008 and Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 had different epidemiological and etiological characteristics. Direct costs (mostly medical costs) impose an enormous burden on the patient family. Vaccination strategies for high-risk groups need to be further strengthened.

[Survey on the recessive infection of pathogen to hand-foot-mouth disease among healthy adults and children in Guangdong province].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the pathogen-carrying status of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) among healthy people in Guangdong province. METHODS: Stool specimens were collected randomly on 7 age groups from 7 cities in Guangdong province. Real-time RT-PCR was used to detect enterovirus (EV), enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackie virus A16 (CA16). RESULTS: Altogether, 1285 stool specimens were collected. The positive rates of EV71, CA16 and other enterovirus were 0.39% (5/1285), 0.23% (3/1285) and 7.00% (90/1285), respectively. The highest EV71 positive rate (1.79%) was among the 4-6-year-old group, followed by the age group 0 - 3 with positive rate as 0.67%. EV71 was not found among the rest age groups. The highest CA16 positive rate (1.35%) was among the 4 - 6 year-olds group, but the CA16 was not found among the rest age groups. EV71 was only found among native population, with the positive-rate as 0.47%. CA16-positive rate was 0.19% among the native population and 0.85% among floating population, with no significant difference found (P > 0.05). The EV71 positive rate was 0.36% among rural residents and 0.54% among urban residents, but with no significant difference (P > 0.05). All CA16 was found among the urban residents. CONCLUSION: Recessive infection of EV71 and CA16 were only found among 0-6 year-old group but not found among other groups, which suggested that the approaches on prevention and control should be targeted to all children especially on pre-school children.